094 - Hikaru No Go

094 - Hikaru No Go
written by Yumi Hotta
artist is Takeshi Obata (also artist for Death Note)

This manga is originally intended for young teen's or even pre-teens. (Amazon.com says it is for readers ages 9-12). But it is one of the most suspenseful, action-packed stories I have encountered, even without any elements of violence or sex etc. You have to read it to believe it. The suspense really rivals the intensity of an adult story or movie of action/violence! It is a roller coaster ride!
The main theme of the story is a chess-like game played with colored-stones/pieces. The manga series illustrates the challenging path to become a professional Go player.

plot: a boy finds a haunted Go (game)-board and falls in love with the game of Go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikaru_no_go

according to amazon.com, this is a 23 volume series.
http://www.amazon.com/Hikaru-No-Go-Vol-1/dp/159116222X/

http://store.viz.com/Hikaru-No-Go-Vol.-1/A/159116222X.htm

5 star manga

093 - Color of Earth trilogy

093 - The color of earth TRILOGY
written by Kim Dong Hwa

This three volume set of manga/graphic novels represents two love stories. The love story of a woman in rural Korea, and the love story of her young daughter. (If I remember correctly, in the notes, these are based on true stories.)

The Color of Earth is vol.1
The Color of Water is vol.2
The Color of Heaven is the final volume, vol.3.

My biggest surprise after completing the stories, is the bio profile of the author. The story is told from the point of view of the daughter, and sometimes her mother. I expected the author to be female! Yet, the author is male. It just caught me by surprise.

published by First Second Books http://us.macmillan.com/QuickSearchResults.aspx?search=color+of+earth&ctl00%24ctl00%24cphContent%24ucAdvSearch%24imgGo.x=22&ctl00%24ctl00%24cphContent%24ucAdvSearch%24imgGo.y=7

(wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Second_Books)

http://www.amazon.com/Color-Earth-Story-Golden-Fields/dp/1596434589


5 star manga

092 - Real

092 - Real

I picked up Real to pass the time; This manga shakes you!
Takehiko Inoue, the writer, incorporates a surreal quality of story-telling analagous as Oliver Stone is to movie-making. (Currently, I have savoured eight volumes of Real).

plot: The lives of 3 teens evolve in the world of Basketball and Wheelchair Basketball.
This simple storyline doesn't do the series justice. It doesn't just expose the lifestyle of atheletes, but also Life's complexities are captured with the feel of snapshots.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_%28manga%29
http://www.amazon.com/Real-Vol-1-Takehiko-Inoue/dp/1421519895/
http://store.viz.com/Real-Vol.-1/A/1421519895.htm

5star manga

091 - Imadoki Nowadays

o91 - Imadoki! Nowadays
by Yuu Watase (Yu Watase)

A short series of only 5 volumes. (This could be the shortest series of my personal favorites).
This is a pleasant surprisingly charming shojo manga. Like many of Yuu Watase's other works, this title is a fun read. I'm almost tempted to find and raise a pet-fox!

plot: a teenager moves to the big city to attend high school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imadoki!
http://store.viz.com/Imadoki-Nowadays-Vol.-1-Dandelion/A/1591163307.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Imadoki-Nowadays-Vol-1-Dandelion/dp/1591163307/

5star manga

090 - Ooku The Inner Chambers

090 - Ooku : The Inner Chambers

by Fumi Yoshinaga

This MANGA is "epic" literally. It has the same flavor as Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima's expression of medieval Japan. (egs: Lone Wolf and Cub; Path of the Assassin; Samurai Executioner; The Color of Rage).
Throw in a splash of Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale". and Ooku is the result.

So far I've only read the first three volumes.
The art is beautiful.
Summary/Plot: Nature inflicts a shortage of males in Japan. This shakes the country's internal and external national politics.

Links
http://store.viz.com/oku-The-Inner-Chambers-Vol.-1/A/1421527472.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Coku:_The_Inner_Chambers
http://www.amazon.com/%C3%94oku-Inner-Chambers-Vol-Ooku/product-reviews/1421527472/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8


5 star manga.jcpma

089 - honey and clover

Honey and Clover

The plot - A handful of college students experience romance and love triangles.
This is a manga set worth keeping. There are 10 volumes. From what I have read so far, the series started in 2000 and finished in 2006 (there are 64 ?or more? chapters).
The Manga-ka is Chica (Chika) Umino. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chika_Umino

It is a story told with charm.
A "rom-com" full of humor and melancholy.

The US site for the english translated manga is:
http://honeyandclover.viz.com/

wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_and_Clover

It looks like there is: 1 animation series; 1 Japan tv series; 1 Japan? (movie); 1 Taiwan tv series.
I sure would like to see these; My fingers are crossed to see if they will contain English subtitles.

5star manga

088 - drop.io disappears

drop.io disappears

as you know, Facebook purchased Drop.io and thus its service ceased on Dec15,2010.
I was not a heavy user of drop.io but I found it a very user-friendly service.
Various sites have suggested alternatives but really there aren't any (i'm aware of at this moment).
It had a very unique ease and freedom of interface; There was the options of implementing more restrictions if the user wanted.

John Dvorak writes about its demise: The Cloud Fiasco of 2010: Drop.io
Article URL
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372243,00.asp

If we are fortunate, some intelligent company will put out a similar service to drop.io. Perhaps in the future Google will, they are a smart operation.

Again, this is an example of the impermanence of the internet. Once a site ceases, the (digital) information/content is loss. I wonder if a (paper)book, wouldn't outlast digital information as a storage medium?
Backup your content from the cloud, should another rainy day occur.